By Caroline Murray

Published 4:49 pm, Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Frito-Lay challenges snack lovers to eat just one of their crunchy, salty potato chips. Without fail, it seems, hungry mouths will lose the battle between self-control and the chips' addictiveness when the bag is opened.

Most of us find ways to limit our intake of unhealthy foods. But what if there was something that defied our ability to control our eating habits?

For Kathy, it was peanut butter. Once she opened up a jar she could not put it away.

Then there was ice cream.

She would pick out two gallons at the grocery store because she was unable to choose between the flavors. After finishing one at home, she would dump the other down the drain. An hour later, she would purchase another container.

Her entire life revolved around hiding her food addiction. At parties, you could find her in the closet, devouring eating behind closed doors.

Kathy, who asked to be identified only by her first name, is a member of Overeaters Anonymous.

She lives with the disease day by day, but she said the OA 12-step program (modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous) makes the struggle easier.

Before finding the program, Kathy had nightmares of giving in to a life of compulsive eating.

"I did not have a sane relationship with food," she said.

There is nothing wrong with indulging once in a while. However, it's a problem when consuming food turns into a compulsion.

Karen Anderson is a registered dietitian and social worker with a practice in Clifton Park. Anderson defines food addiction as something that is both psychological and physical.

Many people are unaware of what constitutes an addiction because it is not as identifiable as an eating disorder.

"An eating disorder is something that is more fully developed and diagnostic," such as bulimia or anorexia, she said.

However, she believes there is some overlap. An eating disorder of any type stems from an unresolved conflict within a person or with others. Many times this is true for addicts too.

Unlike eating disorders, there is not a lot of statistical data on food addiction. In 2011 the National Institute on Drug Abuse spent $6 million on research related to food addiction, according to an article in the Daily Beast.

The problem is most common among obese or overweight people, but someone of a healthy weight can be a food addict, Anderson said. And if he or she continues the unhealthy behavior, it could lead to extreme weight gain.

Food addicts find comfort in all types of food

Some people in Kathy's OA group get pleasure from sweets. Others can't put down the "crunchy stuff," such as pretzels, popcorn or potato chips.

"You can binge on anything if it tastes good," said Kathy. "It's almost like a sensual relationship, it just tastes so good that you keep wanting to feed that sensation."

The high from this behavior is like that of drugs or alcohol; it's euphoric until the guilt settles in.

Most of us love sweets and snacks. And sometimes we feel guilty about that brownie we shouldn't have eaten.

Food addicts will put their addiction above everything and everyone else, said Anderson,

Addicts often plan what they eat around social events, sneak food during work and even hide in their cars or other isolated areas to ingest massive amounts of food. Some jeopardize their careers by missing days of work after bingeing.

And Anderson would like to see more attention paid to food addiction in American culture.

"We have all this sex education and drug education, but we don't talk about food addiction. It is a secretive and isolated addiction," said Anderson.

Anderson argues that the food industry plays a part in the problem by creating what she called ''hyperpalatable'' foods, usually with some mix of sugar, salt and fatty ingredients that can be especially appealing to people with eating problems.

"They develop a formula to lure people to their products," Anderson said.

Depression, anxiety, history of traumatic family events and low self-esteem are all internal stressors that affect addicts, too.

There are also physiological factors driving a food addiction. Andreson said research she has read found that imbalances of body chemistry can prevent people from feeling full or cause them to overeat. Many times, compulsive eaters try to fill a void with food.

"It's difficult; a lot of shame is attached to the behaviors," said Kathy.

Overeaters Anonymous provides an addict with a sponsor. He or she can become a sponsee, attend weekly meetings and follow a nutrition and exercise plan, too. There are 12 steps to everyone's plan and nine tools they must use to embark on the road to recovery.

Seek help from a dietitian or therapist, or invest in a self-help book such as "The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous," which is distributed in OA but can be found on Amazon.com.

Read "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite," by Dr. David A. Kessler, which tackles the issues related to the food industry such as its mass production of hyper-palatable foods, which Anderson strongly warns against.